Tragedy inspires neighbor to use his piano for charity

One of the marquee awards bestowed at central Ohio's 2013 National Philanthropy Day celebration went to someone who wishes he'd never been in the running for the honor.

The Columbus Dispatch

One of the marquee awards bestowed at central Ohio's 2013 National Philanthropy Day celebration went to someone who wishes he'd never been in the running for the honor.

Dr. Mark King reminded those at this week's luncheon that the charitable work that earned him the Association of Fundraising Professionals' Judges Award didn't grow out of some altruistic desire to serve the community.

The trigger, he said, was a tragedy he would have done anything to avoid.

Early on April 13, 2003, Palm Sunday, a fire set by an arsonist swept through a house in the University District, killing Christine Wilson, a 19-year-old student at Ohio University, and four other college students attending a birthday party. The case remains unsolved.

Wilson had grown up next door to King in Dublin, but, he said, she was more than a neighbor. She'd baby-sat his three children. He and his wife, Heidi, thought of her almost as a daughter, he said.

"Nothing could have prepared me for the grief I felt on that day in 2003," Dr. King told a packed ballroom at the Renaissance Columbus Downtown, adding that he was equally unprepared for how the effort to cope with that grief would change his life.

King, who was an accomplished pianist long before he became a radiologist, recorded a CD - Christine's Christmas - to raise money for a foundation established in Wilson's memory. ("Everybody loves Christmas," he said, "but she had kind of a special connection to it.") He sold 2,000 copies in two weeks.

Encouraged by the CD's popularity, King decided to play many of the same songs at a benefit concert in December 2004. A holiday tradition was born.

King has performed every year since, drawing bigger and bigger audiences - the event has outgrown two venues - and raising more than $300,000 for youth charities in the area.